Russian minister angrily denies doping allegations

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Published: 10:11 GMT, Jul 2, 2017 |

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Russian Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Mutko reacted angrily to a question about doping on Saturday (July 1) and sarcastically offered to perform a Russian dance if the media stopped asking him about the topic.

Meanwhile, FIFA president Gianni Infantino, sitting alongside Mutko at a Confederations Cup press conference, said Russian players were regularly tested in international competition and results always came up negative.

A report by Canadian sports lawyer Richard McLaren last year said more than 1,000 Russian athletes competing in summer, winter and paralympic sport were involved in or benefited from an institutional conspiracy to conceal positive doping tests.

The report, commissioned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), said that soccer was among more than 30 sports involved.

In an answer which lasted nearly nine minutes, Mutko, who is also head of the Russian Football Union (RFU), repeated previous denials concerning alleged doping in Russian football.

FIFA has said that it was still investigating the allegation that footballers were among the 1,000-plus athletes mentioned in the McLaren report. Infantino said he did not know how long this would take, adding that there were “a few facts, the rest is all speculation”.